December 05, 2014

The Speyer Cathedral

December 05, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Five years ago, when Aaron and I vacationed in Germany after graduating from Michigan Tech, we visited a lot of cathedrals and drank a lot of German beer. We have since dubbed that trip ''The Beer and Cathedral Tour of Germany.'' On the Sunday after we returned from the Philippines, the tour continued. We visited the town of Speyer (pronounced Schpi-er), known for being an ancient city (founded by the Romans) and for having a very impressive Cathedral. Thankfully, it was close to home (only about 20 minutes from Mannheim). A few weeks ago, I had visited the city with work colleagues. I thought it was really cool and wanted to go back with Aaron, so we did.

December 04, 2014

Post Vacay Catch Up

December 04, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

While we were in the Philippines, we came to a startling realization: we haven't been accomplishing things on our Bucket List very quickly. We both worry that *poof* it will be the end of our assignment here and we won't have much to show for it (and empty passports!). With that thought, we had originally planned to head to Basel, Switzerland for a night the weekend after we got back from the Philippines. Well, life managed to get in the way, planning was too rushed, and so we decided not to go to Basel at the last minute. Instead, we caught up on the boring stuff - laundry, cleaning, sleep, that sort of thing.

December 01, 2014

Travel Review: Deep Blue Adventures and Atlantis Resort, Puerto Galera, Philippines

December 01, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Over the past week or so, we've told you all about the diving we did in the Philippines and some of the stuff we did outside of the water. One of the things we haven't talked much about is the place we stayed, and who coordinated it all for us.

Back in the US, we met Cheryl Patterson who owns Deep Blue Adventures through friends of ours (she's a hoot by the way!). They focus solely on dive travel so when we decided we wanted to take a dive trip this fall, naturally, we contacted her. Our agent was Terri and

November 27, 2014

Fire Dancers and Ladyboys

November 27, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Since we did so much diving, we didn't really spend much time exploring the island of Mindoro (the island that Puerto Galera is on). We had heard about fire dancing and other entertainment in another town not too far away, White Beach. So one night, we decided to skip the night dive and head that way. Thankfully, a couple of the dive masters at the resort were interested in going. We grabbed a Jeepny in the town of Sabang and headed over there. It was about a 20 - 25 minute ride from Sabang to White Beach and when we got there, the driver dropped us off in a parking lot. Had it been just Aaron and I, I'm not sure we would have found the actual beach. Thankfully, PJ, PJ's girlfriend, and Jake came with us and they knew where to go!

November 24, 2014

Muck Diving in the Philippines

November 24, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Last week we talked about the reef diving we did in the Philippines. Today, we are talking about the other type of diving: muck diving. This isn't the kind of muck that is found in inland lakes, the kind that you sink ankle deep into when you step into it, and goes 'sluuuurp' when you pull your foot out (or, would, if it wasn't underwater). This muck is more or less sand, and isn't ''mucky'' at all. When I heard muck diving, I was just a little grossed out (see my description of what I though muck meant above), and I thought there wouldn't be much to see. Boy was I wrong. I had NO idea that we would see that much stuff diving over sand.

November 21, 2014

Reef Diving in the Philippines

November 21, 2014/ Meghan Oaks

Last week, we spent an amazing week in the Philippines diving our tushes off. We ended up doing 29 dives in 6.5 days - 4 or 5 dives each day. Diving is relaxing, but tiring, even if you are breathing nitrox. And after a while, they all tend to run together a little bit. Not that that's a bad thing, but that just means I can't remember if I saw that awesome nudibranch on my 5th dive or 20th dive, so a dive-by-dive breakdown isn't really possible. That being said, there are two main types of diving that we did in the Philippines - reef diving and muck diving. Today, we are talking about reef diving.

November 12, 2014

Oh The Places We'll Go...Philippines Edition

November 12, 2014/ Aaron Oaks

We made it to the Philipines! After 31 hours of travel, including two planes, a van and a boat, we arrived at the Atlantis Resort in Puerto Galera, Philipines. Our journey started on Saturday afternoon when we left our apartment at 3:00 in the afternoon and arrived at the resort at noon, local time (7 AM on Monday German time).

The first leg of our journey was actually making it to the airport